[ad_1]
Lithuanian Defense Ministry has recommended consumers avoid buying Chinese cellphones and advised people to throw away those they currently own, after a government report found the devices had censorship capabilities integrated.
Flagship phones sold in Europe by Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as “free Tibet”, “long live Taiwan independence” or “democracy movement,” said Lithuanian cybersecurity body Tuesday. .
Xiaomi’s Mi 10T 5G phone’s software capability had been disabled for the European Union region, but can be enabled remotely at any time, the ministry’s national cybersecurity center said in the report.
“Our recommendation is not to buy new Chinese phones and get rid of those already purchased as quickly as reasonably possible,” Deputy Defense Minister Margiris Abukevicius told reporters when presenting the report.
Xiaomi did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Relations between Lithuania and China have deteriorated recently. China last month demanded that Lithuania withdraw its ambassador to Beijing and announced that it would recall its envoy to Vilnius, after Taiwan announced that its mission in Lithuania would be called the Taiwan Representative Office.
Taiwanese missions in Europe and the United States use the name of the city of Taipei, avoiding a reference to the island itself, which China claims as its own territory.
US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan last week held talks with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and stressed his support for his country in the face of pressure from China.
The report from the national cyber center also said that the Xiaomi phone was sending encrypted phone usage data to a server in Singapore. A security hole was also found in Chinese Huawei’s P40 5G phone, but none were found in the phone of another Chinese manufacturer, OnePlus, he said.
Huawei’s representative in the Baltic States told the BNS newswire that his phones do not send user data outside.
The report states that the list of terms that may be censored by the Xiaomi phone’s system apps, including the default internet browser, currently includes 449 Chinese terms and is continually being updated.
“This is important not only for Lithuania but for all countries that use Xiaomi equipment,” the center said in the report.
Source link
